editor's blog

March 11, 2014

Most of the Christian community celebrated Ash Wednesday last week. In the modern church, it is a day whose significance is the beginning of Lent, the period of six weeks leading up to Easter, the day after the end of Mardi Gras. As with many, if not most, church dates, its history can give a glimpse into the history of our civilization.

March 4, 2014

Before we get into other matters, I have one question. Can we stop referring to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as "non-partisan"? I get that it (the CBO) is supposed to give straight answers based on the information given, but if you will look very, very carefully at the name, the word "Congressional" kind of gives away that this is some kind of government entity. As such, it's probably staffed by government employees, who get government checks and thus have an interest in, or bias for, wait for it, the government.

February 25, 2014

If you mention someone who is thrifty, or saving with money or materials of any sort, you'll immediately hear, "Oh, no, you've never known anybody who was 'tight'. You need to hear about (fill in the name of someone you know who fits into this category)." Just about everybody knows somebody who won't turn a dollar loose until he has to, or someone who uses and reuses the same things until it becomes a joke. Here are some favorites I've collected, but I know lots more and I'm sure you do, too.

February 18, 2014

Since the inception of the profession, attorneys have tended not to be folks favorite people. Some hypothesize it is because we at times argue for that in which we do not believe, or perhaps it dates to a discomfort with legal systems (a feeling which dates to before the great days of Babylon) and our comfort in that setting. For whatever reason, it is unusual to find an attorney who, 144 years after his death, is still considered one of the most admired people in our nation.

February 11, 2014

Okay, good news: according to The Barack, the problems with the Obamacare website have been fixed. Not only that, they did it at the lightning speed of the federal government and had it taken care of within a â€śMonth-and-a-halfâ€ť. Wow, Iâ€™m impressed. Or maybe a better term would be saddened. Since when has six weeks been an acceptable amount of time to fix a problem with a website? I remember just around Christmas when Target was maliciously hacked and had a bunch of information stolen.

February 4, 2014

A friend of mine in Scurry County and I are always trying to tell the best country stories. His name is Billy Ray and he is real hard to beat. I just knew I had beat him, so I called him up and of course he asked how I was doing, so I said, "Well, I am doing a lot better. I traded a bunch of scrap iron for a big box of dried apples. Now we eat dried apples for breakfast, drink water for dinner, and just swell up for supper."

January 28, 2014

The deluge of catalogs that descends on us at Christmas is second only to the one with end of the year / first of the year catalogs. In addition, various individuals and companies are clamoring that, if we will only do the paperwork, we are assured to win a sweepstakes that will solve all our problems. It is enough to make one not check the mail, which can be extremely dangerous.

January 22, 2014

With The Barack recently stating publicly that he believes unemployment creates jobs, I have to wonder about something. Specifically: Where is Nancy Pelosi? That used to be her line. The left used to send Mrs. Pelosi out to tout the old chestnut about unemployment insurance being a job creator as if it were her own original idea and she was going to get us to believe it no matter what the facts are. Of course, I could be mistaken, I could be thinking of Mrs. Pelosi telling us what a great economic benefit food stamps are.

January 14, 2014

So glad to see 2014 arrive with the world still turning and the sun still shining. This time of year always seems like a clean slate. A new start that I will personally endeavor to make the best of realizing that one of the New Yearâ€™s will be the last one.
Dee Sharrock at Palava used to say that the Bible said it would rain on the just and the unjust. Then he said, â€śIf it would just rain on the unjust, I could carry water to the just in my hat.â€ť

January 7, 2014

The local media has been filled with information on the projected increase of oil and gas activity in our area. Previously vacant buildings are showing signs of occupancy; traffic is increasing, and many of us are seeing folk we donâ€™t recognize around town. The impact of the Cline Shale on Nolan County is not necessarily something that can be quantified at this point, but we know â€“ from watching the development of the Eagle Shale, if from nothing else â€“ that there will be an impact.